Monday, April 10, 2017

Pay Attention to Opportunities to Recommend Your Peers: It’s Good Business – and Good Fun!

Recently I had the privilege of speaking at the SHRM Volunteer Leadership Summit in Washington, DC with four of my speaker friends that I frequently recommend to others. We are part of a group called The Keynoters and clients often hire us together to speak at their events. We had so much fun being the leadership track for this important Human Resource professional’s event.

Some of our favorite comments received were from the meeting planners and attendees — all sharing how much they enjoyed watching us support each other in the sessions. The format required two of us present at a time in rooms beside each other. As there are five of us, we would help the others when we weren’t presenting by providing handouts, moving chairs, doing whatever needed to be done.

Here’s what you need to know: people are always watching. And they pay attention not only to what you say, but what you do. We all enjoy each other’s company, we love seeing the others succeed and we love serving clients together. Behaviors follow beliefs. We all believe in the other presenters and providing the most valuable experience for our client and our audience.

If you want to get attention for your products, your projects, your team, consider referring others. It’s a win-win-win-win-win – you get the idea!

Here are five ways you can get attention by referring your peers:

Create a strong network. Know who you can trust, what their strengths and talents are and who you can recommend to clients, customers, members, friends and colleagues.

Explore client needs. Know your clients’ challenges, concerns and big picture goals, then make suggestions for them. When you do, you become their trusted advisor, and go-to resource.

Make connections. Don’t just mention people to each other, make an actual introduction via email or a teleconference. Give a few reasons why you think there might be a good fit between them. Make it easy for others to do business together.

Follow up. Don’t stop at introductions. Be sure to follow up to see if those you recommend were able to connect.

Build advocates. When you actively refer others and constantly strengthen your network, you can build strong relationships with people who will become advocates for you and your work. Foster those relationships, reach out to them regularly and keep them informed of what you are doing. When you do, you’ll often find yourself on the receiving end of a referral of your own!

Pay attention to the needs of your clients, members, patients, and team members and colleagues. Actively look for the connections that could be opportunities for others to play a role in someone else’s success. In doing so you’ll elevate your relationships with all of the above to being both an expert at what you do – and a positive facilitator for connectivity. Have some fun with it! I can tell you that The Keynoters and I sure do!

Want to learn more ways to identify opportunities to recommend others when you can’t be all things to all people? Here’s how to have a network of professionals you know and trust to recommend and refer when your area of expertise isn’t the best fit.

This video will guide you on how to:
– Recommend the right professional to fit your customer’s needs
– Make connections between professionals so cold calls aren’t necessary
– Build trust with your clients and contacts to become their go-to resource for professionals

When you pay attention to your clients’ needs, you can be a hero by recommending others who are experts ready to solve their problems.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you are in the market for a good referral or think I might have some connections that could help you with an event, project or problem, please don’t hesitate to call me today. I’d love to assist!